Much has changed over the past 50 to 75 years when it comes to finding and decorating the family Christmas tree.

Today, the options are endless. You can choose to visit a Christmas tree farm and cut your own, select a pre-lit artificial tree at a big box retail store, or pull the one out of the attic that was used last year or the year before. If you’re looking for something different, you can find one that will fit in the corner of a room or lends itself to being hung from the ceiling.

The imagination isn’t capable of nailing down all of the options that are available when it comes to decorating the tree. For example, the tree topper can range from a white-clad angel holding a lit candle to an animated Santa that waves his arms to the sounds of “Here Comes Santa Claus.” From top to bottom, against a backdrop of twinkling lights, colorful, multi-shaped glass ornaments mixed with exquisite garland can be equally as fascinating and diverse.

We always had a decorated tree at Christmastime at the country home where I lived as a child; however, it paled in comparison to the ones that are popular today.

We depended on Mother Nature to provide a cedar tree of a girth and height that would fit into the front bedroom.

Finding the right tree and keeping it under guard until the last Saturday before Christmas Day was a task my three younger brothers and I took seriously. From time to time, we’d go out of our way to check on the tree and make sure it was alive and well.

At the proper time, we’d cut the tree and attach a wide board to the base before taking it inside to decorate.

Our store- bought decorations consisted of a string of 12 colored electric lights and a box of 12 glass ornaments. From there, handmade decorations took the day.

We peeled aluminum foil from empty cigarette packages and used it to make ornaments from sweet gum balls. Colored strips of notebook paper and popcorn were strung together and used as garland and a hand-colored cardboard cutout of an angel was placed at the top of the tree.

Afterward, we’d sit around the tree and watch the flames from the burning logs in our fireplace dance on the surfaces of the ornaments and trigger thoughts of merry Christmases past, present and future.

Clif Knight is a staff writer for the Hartselle Enquirer.